A COVID Anniversary & Life Together

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

   Philippians 4:4-7 NRSVue

 Is anyone else thinking about the third anniversary of the official declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps more realistically, are many of us not pondering this global recognition? The pandemic changed the lives of just about everyone in our society. Far too many people have died, with our elders the most vulnerable and treated with disrespect -- they are still dying. Others have coped with chronic illness, had their mental health compromised, lost businesses. I can't help but feel that the upheaval has led to aberrant and belligerent behaviour in just about every level of our social strata. The ridiculous invasion of Ottawa is a high profile example. 

Communities of faith have been affected as well, and as with the human loss, some congregations died. Plenty have suffered signficantly with neither attendance nor finances rebounding to pre-pandemic levels. Some people just drifted away, while others are still wary of congregate settings, including worship. Honestly, I feel that lots of congregations were overy cautious along the way, choosing to remain closed throughout the pandemic rather than take the necessary precautions to reopen when it was reasonably safe to do so.

We're grateful that our congregation, Trenton United, had sensible and courageous leadership from clergy and lay leaders along the way. Decision-making was fraught with concerns, but we found our way forward.  We were closed during the mandated periods, yet found the opportunities to come back together for worship and study and for the meal ministry. A surprising amount of outreach took place and some major projects in the building were undertaken, including installing a lift/elevator. 

I recall Sunday, March 15th 2020 vividly, our final in-person worship experience before the shut-down. It was the third Sunday of Lent, and we'd already begun a Lenten study during the week. Still, some people were already choosing to stay home.  At the end of the service the board met and decided to close until Palm Sunday, three weeks away. Who could know what was before us? 

It may be a long time before we can assess the implications of the pandemic, if ever. In a recent interview Canadian literary great, Margaret Atwood, offered that pandemics have had a greater impact on world history that wars, and that may be accurate. The Spanish Flu pandemic likely killed far more people than WWI. Should we be preparing for the next one? 

If you're reading this it means you have survived, whatever your personal experience with COVID, whatever your losses. We can give thanks for this, and for our resilience. We drew on resources, individually and collectively we may not have known we possessed. We can pray that our congregations find the clarity and courage to follow God's direction for a new day.